Greetings, doods! How goes things? Ryan from NISA here, dropping by to let you know that Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory releases today in North America exclusively for PlayStation 3! It’s time again to join the exuberant and extremely awesome Neptune and her gaggle of CPU goddess buddies for a brand-new adventure in Gamindustri!

For those new to the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, it is a turn-based comedy RPG set in a world called Gamindustri, which is governed by different CPU Goddesses. Each goddess is actually a living and playable personification of the different video game consoles that we all have come to hold dear to our hearts. As the player, you take the role of the main character, Neptune, and along with a whole slew of strong female counterparts, it’s your job to make sure that order reigns supreme in Gamindustri!

So what’s putting Gamindustri at risk this time around? Victory begins several years after Neptune’s sister Nepgear prevented Arfoire’s (baddie from previous Neptunia games) revival. The CPUs and their younger sisters have been enjoying their quiet lives for a while… Then one day, Neptune is sent to another dimension. This new dimension feels very much like her own… except it has only progressed to the Gamindustri of the 1980s. In this dimension, a group of villains calling themselves the “Seven Sages” are trying to create a world free from the rule of CPUs. With help from old and new friends, including that dimension’s CPU of Planeptune—Plutia—Neptune begins her quest to protect a totally different Gamindustri.

Let’s talk about game mechanics! There are a bunch of new features in Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory that were absent from the previous titles. One such mechanic is the EXE Drive Gauge, which is essentially a meter that fills up as you and your party members attack the enemy or get attacked. It lets you access incredibly powerful super moves, but if you become close friends with the other CPUs, you can even use it to access their “Final CPU Form,” which turns them into weapons for Neptune to bash the enemy with! Some friend, huh?

Besides the EXE Drive Gauge, the game also incorporates “Challenges” for you to accomplish. These are separate from Trophies, and will give you stat bonuses or unlock bonus voices when you complete them. For example, “I get knocked down” is a challenge that counts how many times a character falls in battle. Die in battle 10 times and that character will get a small stat boost. Others involve the amount a character is healed in battle, the number of times a character jumps on the field, and many, many more. It’s a great way to build your stats aside from grinding levels, so we encourage you all to challenge yourself to become the best fighter in Gamindustri!

Thank you all for hanging out to hear about Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory! We have a lot of DLC planned for this title, so please stay tuned as we announce more of that on our website! We had a blast working on this title, and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we do! I’ll be back on PS.Blog again soon to talk about our new title, Time and Eternity, which is set to release exclusively on the PS3 this summer. See you soon, dood!

I want to kick things off with our big announcement from this year’s press event! Coming this summer, NIS America will be publishing Time and Eternity in North America and Europe! Time and Eternity was developed by IMAGEEPOCH Inc. and licensed by NAMCO BANDAI Games, and is a very exciting title for us, as it is a brand-new style of RPG using hand-drawn animation! Time and Eternity places you in a serene kingdom where everyone is ready to celebrate the imminent marriage of their princess to a valiant knight. However, when a group of assassins appears during the ceremony, the glorious day is brought to a screeching halt as the knight is mortally wounded in the ambush. As a last resort, the princess reveals her long-hidden secret—there is a second soul living within her, and together, they have the power to travel through time. But can they act quickly enough to reverse the course of history and find out why their wedding ceremony was crashed? All shall be revealed this summer, dood! This title will feature dual audio voicing and DLC, as well!

Disgaea fans rejoice! Nippon Ichi Software Inc.’s Disgaea Dimension 2: A Brighter Darkness will be illuminating your lives this fall! This title is a direct sequel to the original Disgaea, starring the fan favorite characters Laharl, Etna, and Flonne! Story-wise, Laharl is back and has settled into his duties as a full-fledged Overlord. However, he isn’t getting the respect that he wants from the locals, so he sets off on a journey to get the respect he feels he is owed! Expect the same awesome Disgaea craziness, with new characters and old friends, and new demons ready to punchasize your face! Fans will definitely enjoy the new Master/Pupil system, where the player chooses the master and the pupil, as well as which skills to pass on! Benefits include new skills and higher weapon proficiencies for the pupil, while the master gets a stat boost for being a rad teacher! On top of that, character customization is back with a vengeance! It all will hit later this year for PS3 with dual audio voicing and a bunch of planned DLC!

Last but not least, we have another awesome PS3 exclusive title from Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. titled The Guided Fate Paradox! Some folks may remember that way back at the end of 2010, I came onto PS.Blog to talk about our rogue-like title Z.H.P.: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman for PSP. The Guided Fate Paradox is actually the spiritual successor to Z.H.P. – so rogue-like RPG fans across the world should rejoice!

The story for this title in particular is quite unique – imagine you are at the mall and you are forced to enter a raffle they are running inside… and you win! Congratulations, you winner, you! Your prize? You get to become God! Now that you are God, it’s your beeswax to go through the mysterious Fate Revolution Circuit and guide the fates of those who have prayed to God for help! You won’t be alone, though—you will also have a heavenly host of cute maid-angels and hot butler-angels to help.

“But wait,” you may shout shoutingly, “Ryan, go back to the rogue-like part!” Sure thing! This title takes the seemingly masochistic genre of rogue-like RPGs and makes it more approachable and fun for RPG greenhorns! Already a rogue-like veteran? Not to fret, as you’ll appreciate not only the awesome randomly generated dungeons, but also the insane combinations of items and gear you can use! Tank treads or a Prinny car for legs? Bat wings or robotic helmets? It’s all there, along with some over-the-top Disgaea-like special attacks. Also, look forward to customizing your character, equipping your angelic companions, and delving into dungeons so deep, you might end up on Hell’s doorstep! It’s coming this fall for PS3 with dual audio voicing!

That’s all for now, doods! We’ll be back in a few weeks to get everyone excited for the launch of Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory for PS3, which is set for later this month in North America and Europe! Thanks again for all your support, doods!

Greetings all! We’re super excited that Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories is coming to PSN later today as a PS2 Classic! I’m dropping by today to talk briefly about the title and to answer any questions you may have for us!

First let’s talk about the Disgaea in general for those that are new to the series. Disgaea is a turn-based strategy role-playing game series that is well known for its over-the-top attacks that give you the ability to inflict millions of points of damage on your enemies, its cast of hilarious and memorable characters, and lastly its deep customizable gameplay and seemingly endless replayability. If you’re an RPG fan and new to the series, this is an opportune chance to try it out on your PS3 for only $9.99!

Here is the story in a nutshell: a mighty Overlord named Zenon (one of my favorite characters) has cursed the land and now Veldime is transforming into a nasty Netherworld. Memories are sterilized, bodies demonized, and the world is generally falling into chaos. The only one unaffected is a young man, named Adell. He stands up to fight the curse, but of course things never go as planned. Enter the haughty daughter of Zenon, a filthy little frog, lovable demon siblings… even a washed-up rock star?! No one can ever predict what will happen in the world of Disgaea. And of course, the other Overlords refuse to sit still watching…

Lastly, it’s definitely worth mentioning two really cool mechanics called Dark Assembly and the Item World. The Dark Assembly is a senatorial-type system where players can make outlandish requests like “lower enemy level” and “I want better weapons!” and then bribe the members of the assembly to make it happen! Need to power up your weapons and items? No problem, dood! With the item World, you can access a limitless battleground where you can upgrade weapons and items by progressing floor by floor. The Item World feature is by far one of the biggest fan-favorite mechanics of the Disgaea series, and really adds to the infinite replayability that the series touts.

Again, thank you for hanging out here today to talk about Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories with me! I’ll be back soon to talk about Generation of Chaos: Pandora’s Reflection (PSP) and also Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory (PS3)! Thanks, dood!

Howdy, doods! I’m dropping by today to briefly talk about our upcoming RPG title Mugen Souls, developed by Idea Factory and Compile Heart. Mugen Souls is set to release next Tuesday, October 16th, so I’d like to go over a few of the game’s awesome features and game mechanics. Afterwards, I’ll recap a few of the announcements we made at Tokyo Game Show 2012 a few weeks back. Here we go!

Story-wise, in Mugen Souls you can expect the typical humor and zaniness you’ve come to expect from NIS America titles. You’ll enter a small galaxy in the universe containing seven worlds, shimmering in seven colors… These worlds exist and act independent of one another. This has allowed them to develop and nurture rich, unique cultures. One day, a decree was sent out… “I’m gonna make everything in each of these worlds bow to me!” This reckless statement came courtesy of the egotistical, yet strangely cute, “Chou-Chou.” As Chou-Chou, it’s your mission to travel to these seven worlds, conquer them, and make everything and everyone on them your peon! Worldly domination for the win, dood!

Mugen Souls plays out in a turn-based fashion and with free movement on the battlefield. For a visual reference, the free movement side of the battle system resembles that of Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 for PS3. When it comes time to do some damage, there are many ways to make it happen. Players can experience group attacks inspired by the Disgaea series, where once triggered you and your party, for instance, are suddenly transported into green army tanks and begin raining explosive rounds on your enemies. Or, you can merge with your teammates to form a giant spinning character windmill, which allows you to fly around all fancy-crazy while racking up a bunch of damage on your opponent. If that isn’t enough, you can always launch your enemies into the crystals set in each battle to watch them bounce around like pinballs, or if that still isn’t enough, you can launch them into the air and knock them around for even more damage! When you aren’t conquering worlds and making enemies into your peons, you will be on your ship, known as the “G Castle,” which serves as your transportation between worlds. While traveling, you will also encounter ship battles against enemies, so make sure you have plenty of peons to help out!

One of the most noteworthy and important mechanics of the game is called the “Moe Kill.” Essentially, in order to bolster your G Castle, you will be using the Moe Kill to enslave enemies into being your peons. It’s performed during battle against enemies, and the way you do it is by changing Chou-Chou’s personality to match that of the enemy. After that, depending on that enemy’s mood, you’ll have to use small phrases that coincide with their mood. Successfully doing this a few times should make enemies your peons! On top of the Moe Kill, another important game system is called the “Mugen Field.” If you’re familiar with Disgaea’s Item World, you should feel right at home. The Mugen Field is an area consisting of multiple “floors” where you go to level up your weapons to help aid in conquering worlds. Much like the Item World, the Mugen Field allows you also to unlock upgrades for your character and customization as you progress through it, and clearing it will challenge even the most hardcore RPG fans.

Again, we’re really excited and hopeful that everyone will enjoy this title! It has a lot of great elements from both the Disgaea series (Disgaea artist Takehito Harada provided the art for Mugen Souls, and Disgaea composer Tenpei Sato created the soundtrack) and from standard turn-based JRPGs in general, so definitely give it a try next week on October 16th, dood! Keep your eyes peeled for a lot of DLC also, as we have big plans for the near future!

Lastly, a quick blurb on some new announcements from Tokyo Game Show 2012! First off, we are happy to announce that we’ll be bringing Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory exclusively for PS3, to North America and Europe this spring! Also, we will be launching Generation of Chaos: Pandora’s Reflection for PSP (via PSN) in early 2013! Lastly, we are super happy to announce that we will be bringing Persona 4: Golden for PS Vita to Europe, dood! I’ll be back to touch more on all of this in the future.

That’s all for this time, thank you again for all your support! I’ll be back in a few months to chat, I promise, dood!

First off, I’m sure a lot of you are wondering about the origins of the name Legasista. Well, the name is derived from combining the words legacy and sister.

You see, the main character, Alto, is looking for a way to save his sister, who was turned into a crystal by a curse. He discovers that the artifact that can do it lies in a ruin called the Ivy Tower. While searching the tower, he meets Melize (an ancient weapon), Leina and Shout (a witch and another ancient weapon that was rebuilt from junk parts), Mimily (a dragon-human hybrid), and Volks (a justice-loving thief).

Now that we’ve covered some of the characters, let’s jump right into a few of the noteworthy game features. Legasista utilizes a roguelike dungeon-crawling action/survival RPG battle system. You make your way through dungeons floor by floor, killing monsters and grabbing loot. Beware the poison traps, though, as there are a full dozen different symptoms you can come down with! There’s also a Ran-geon (Random Dungeon) system where you can get better equipment drops and fight stronger enemies to level up faster, but the dungeons delve deeper and you have a higher risk of dying. However, dying isn’t all that bad. Sure, you lose all the equipment that you would’ve looted from that dungeon, but you still get to keep half of the experience you earned from fighting. And you can try again, only you’ll be slightly stronger this time!

One of the awesome points about the game is how much character customization is available. You can create your own characters by choosing their Name, Job, Personality, Voice, what they look like, and more. Once you create your character, you can head into Edit Mode to personalize them even more! You can also export your character’s graphic template, load it into your favorite image editing software on your computer, draw your character precisely how you want it to look, and then import it back into the game (digital photos are fair game too). You can even edit your weapons’ appearances! Not only that, you can trade your characters with your friends to spread the madness! Whew, I got a little excited there…

We’re definitely stoked for Legasista to launch tomorrow on PSN, and our European fans will be happy to know that Legasista will be available for download on PSN in Europe this Wednesday! With a ton of customization, loads of dungeons to crawl through, and awesome action-RPG elements, we really hope RPG fans all over the world will really enjoy what Legasista has to offer!

Before I leave today, I also wanted to provide everyone here on the PS.Blog with an exclusive battle trailer for our upcoming PS3 title Mugen Souls! Hitting store shelves soon, Mugen Souls is a turn-based RPG that touts the ability to do billions of points of damage, has tons of quirky characters bent on world dominance, and features the beautiful art of Takehito Harada (Disgaea series).

This trailer should help you get acquainted with the flow of battle, which plays out in a turn-based fashion and with free movement on the battlefield. Notice how you can knock your enemies around the battlefield like sentient pinballs to break item crystals and get extra items!? You’ll also see the awesome “Moe Kill” command in action, where Chou-Chou turns her enemies into subservient peons. Did we mention the gigantic spaceship battles!? We just did, dood! Thank you for reading and be on the lookout tomorrow on PSN, as Legasista will be available for purchase! We’ll be back in about a month to go a bit more in-depth on Mugen Souls! Later, doods!

Howdy everyone! Ryan from NIS America here, dropping by to talk about our upcoming PS3-exclusive title Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland! Due out May 22nd in North America, this is the final game in the Atelier Arland trilogy and we are super excited for its US debut.

For those new to the Atelier series, they are RPG games that revolve heavily around adventuring and using alchemy to synthesize items, weapons, and armor. In order to make items with alchemy, you will be out leveling up your characters and gathering materials in various areas. Although Atelier Meruru is the third title in the Arland trilogy, the story itself is independent from the previous two titles, so you can totally pick it up and enjoy it without having previous knowledge of the backstory. For those who have played the other two Arland games, you can definitely look forward to seeing familiar characters from the previous two titles!

The story itself takes place in the tiny kingdom of Arls, located on the northeastern border of the Arland Republic, which Princess Meruru calls home. Ever since she was exposed to alchemy by famed adventurer Totori Helmold (Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland, 2011), all she could think about was becoming an alchemist. With Totori’s guidance, Meruru sets out to develop her kingdom using the power of alchemy. On her way, Meruru will encounter new adventures, obstacles, mysteries, and friends, and discover what life is like outside the castle walls. How you choose to guide her through the advancement of her land will determine the final outcome in the tale of Atelier Meruru.

What’s new for this Atelier game? First and foremost, there is a new “development” system that allows you to actually develop new areas in Arls in order to gain access to new lands to explore – doing this will also change the physical appearance of areas and facilities within the game. Another new addition is that you will can pick up quests and interact with NPCs outside of town while you are out gathering and adventuring. The previous titles used the main town as the quest hub to undertake and hand in all your quests, so this is a nice new feature for this series. Alchemy is back with a vengeance, with plenty of new items to make, and of course be on the lookout for the Homs, who will gladly gather and synthesize items for you while you’re out adventuring!

We’re greatly looking forward to the launch of Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland next month on May 22nd exclusively on PS3. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment and I’ll do my best to answer your questions. Thanks again!

Greetings everyone! I’m dropping by to have a quick chat about Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention as it will be hitting both PSN and retailer shelves on April 17th, dood! Let’s jump right into it and talk about some of the brand-new features for its PS Vita debut!

For newcomers, Disgaea is a turn-based strategy RPG where players can move and arrange their characters using a grid-based system to perform special attacks, or team up to do millions of points of damage (often in very comical cutscenes) against their opponents. Disgaea is also known for its wacky cast of characters, one being NIS America’s awesome mascot, Prinny (highly disposable peon penguin demons that explode), all of which are illustrated by Takehito Harada.

Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice first landed on PS3 on August 2008, and along with it came an extensive amount of DLC featuring a lot of characters from the Disgaea universe. We are extremely happy to let everyone know that all of the aforementioned DLC is already included in Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention for PS Vita, on top of the entire Disgaea 3 game!

We’ve also implemented PS Vita functionality, so now you can control your point of view on the map, zoom in and out, and scroll through menus using the front touchscreen and rear touchpad of the PS Vita. Another great feature included is GPS functionality (for 3G/Wi-fi PS Vita owners) that essentially tracks how far you travel while you are physically playing the game, and translates the distance into an in-game stat boost called “Honor Quotient.” Your Honor Quotient can still be increased by defeating monsters and clearing stages, so you Wi-fi PS Vita users can also take advantage of this new stat feature.

We’ve also added a ton of new story content to the game. First off, we’ve added two new characters, Stella and Rutile – both of whom feature in a brand-new two-episode side story. On top of that, Disgaea 4 fans can look forward to seeing two familiar characters, Desco and Fuka – this time as bosses!? More new stories that have been included revolve around Evil Academy’s first culture fair, Raspberyl’s first love, and the battle for the Aptitude Test. Good stuff!

Skill-wise, we’ve added a new tier of magic called the “Tera” level. These super-special attacks feature cameo characters from various Nippon Ichi games drawn by guest artists. Item-wise, we’ve added the ability to customize the visuals of your favorite item. Basically, this allows you to choose an item graphic from a predefined list and transfer stats from another item over to it. This allows players to make their own original weapon with the visuals of their choice. Previously, Disgaea allowed players to max out weapon stats, but not customize the visuals, so this is a plus for hardcore fans.

Thank you all for taking a gander at what Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention has to offer. With a ton of content jammed inside, on top of the Disgaea series’ infinite replayability, we are confident that Disgaea players new and old will find a ton of fun in this new edition for the PS Vita!

Bleach: Soul Resurrección

First up is our brand new title, Bleach: Soul Resurrección for PS3. We are really excited because a lot of us in the office are fans of the anime and manga. Soul Resurrección is the first Bleach game to reach the PlayStation 3, and we’re excited to host its big debut! Soul Resurrección’s plot places you as the main protagonist in the series, Ichigo Kurosaki, closely following the current story arc unfolding in the anime/manga, in the land called Hueco Mundo. Along with your friends, it is your job to stop the evil Aizen who threatens the peace of both the Soul Society and the World of the Living with his army of evil Arrancars. It’s up to Ichigo and the rest of the Soul Reapers to destroy the Arrancars and bring a stop to Aizen’s evil ambitions. That’s really all I can say about the story so far. I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you all!

Bleach: Soul Resurrección is a hack-and-slash action game. It features beautifully cell-shaded graphics that helps maintain the anime feel of Bleach we have come to know and enjoy. Within the game you will find various modes including the main Story mode that will allow you to play as various characters from the Bleach universe as the battle against Aizen unfolds. In total there are 21 selectable characters, so needless to say, the game is jam-packed! Each character his or her own unique combo moves that can be performed both on the ground and in the air to inflict crazy amounts of damage on the Arrancars! As you defeat Arrancars and bosses, you will also collect “Soul Points” that can be used to upgrade your character by using a character upgrade map system. This upgrade system is unique to each character, so there is plenty of replay value to level each character to their fullest potential. Be on the lookout for Bleach: Soul Resurrección exclusively on PlayStation 3, coming this summer! Don’t forget to check out the official trailer too!

Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland

Atelier series fans! We are happy to announce that Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland will make its English debut on the PS3 this fall. For those new to the Atelier series, Atelier games are RPG-style games that focus on adventuring and alchemy. Atelier Totori is the latest installment of the series, starring a girl named Totori. Young Totori decides one day that she wants to become an adventurer, so she decides to open a small workshop (“atelier”) to fund her quest. Along the way you encounter a bunch of brand new friends to help you in your adventure and you’ll notice a few familiar faces (as the story takes place a bit after Atelier Rorona) from previous Atelier games that will appear to help.

One of the new features included in Atelier Totori is the incorporation of MP (Mana Points) for Totori and party members during battle sequences. In the previous Atelier game, Atelier Rorona , players’ special moves relied solely on HP, which would deplete the corresponding amount from your health pool. This time around, players can look forward to having access to both MP and HP, and we hope players will appreciate this change to the turn-based combat system. It wouldn’t be an Atelier game without alchemy, so you all can look forward to hundreds of synthesizable items! Since Totori is bent on becoming an adventurer, a lot of the game’s focus is pointed toward exploring new areas. You will gain licenses to access different areas — most brand new, a few familiar. Lastly, like the previous Atelier games, you can look forward to multiple endings depending on your actions during the game. Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland is set for release this fall. Check it out, dood!

ClaDun x2

Last but not least for our newly announced titles, we have ClaDun x2 for the PSP, which will be available exclusively on the PlayStation Network this summer! For those who aren’t familiar with the ClaDun games, they are exciting action-based dungeon-crawling games that also incorporate RPG facets. Graphically, ClaDun x2 has a classic feel to it, as the graphics scheme pays homage to the pixilated characters of old-school 8-bit games. The premise of the game is to progress through dungeons and level your party members, any one of which can take the role of the main character. You know the phrase “You are only as strong as your weakest link”? This phrase in essence sums up a lot of the “leveling” in ClaDun x2. The whole process is facilitated through a “Magic Circle” system. There are various ways to structure your group, and which characters you place in your Magic Circle will determine their strengths (and weaknesses).

In ClaDun x2, expect more dungeons, updated weapons, more items, more Magic Circles, new monsters, and of course new custom character classes. However, there are a few noteworthy changes to discuss, including an updated character edit system: Now you’re now able to edit your character’s appearance even more than before, this time including movement animations, and even weapons! Last, if you enjoyed the “Ran-geons” from the first ClaDun, you’ll be happy to know that they’ve made the transition to ClaDun x2. We are also happy to announce that “Neo-geons” and “Tri-geons” have been included in the new ClaDun. “Neo-geons” allow you to change certain variables within them, such as weapon and item drop rates, monster levels, and more. “Tri-geons” allow players to choose different paths of difficulty within them, and depending which path is chosen, item drops, item rarity, and monster difficulty will change. If you have a PSP and are looking for an awesome “pick up and play” style dungeon crawler, definitely try out ClaDun x2. It’ll be available on PSN this summer!

Disgaea 4 Trailer

Before I sign off here, I want to leave on a strong note: please take a gander at the Disgaea 4 trailer above. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a must-watch for anyone that’s a fan of the series, or for anyone that enjoys humor in general! For more info, check out our Disgaea 4 website.

With Hyperdimension Neptunia only a month away, I wanted to bring you all a little more information on Neptunia’s Premium Edition and also about our NISA Online Store Preorder bonus item. Our Premium Edition of Hyperdimension Neptunia will include an exclusive art book, as mentioned briefly in our trailer. Fans will be happy to know that the Premium Edition’s art book will contain the original art from the Japanese release, along with additional character art, rough sketches, and concept art. Along with the art book itself, the Premium Edition will come with special packaging that will also serve as a collector’s item!

As an added bonus for all fans that pre-order the Hyperdimension Neptunia from the NIS America Online Store, we will be giving away a limited number of customized Hyperdimension Neptunia playing cards. The decks will be a standard 52 card poker playing card deck with a customized card back for the entire set and your favorite scantily-clad HDD goddesses for all of the face cards. We will only have a limited number of these promotional items, so make sure to take advantage and to sign up for our preorder! To coincide with this, we are also extremely happy to share with all of you our New Year’s resolution here at NIS America. We are stoked to let you all know that we are now offering a free shipping option on our Online Store for U.S. customers! For more information come check it all out on our website.

Next on the agenda, we have Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! now available for purchase on UMD or for download as of last week. For those that have played their way through and didn’t get a chance to unlock Asagi Wars, we have good news for you! PSN has already released our DLC, which will allow you to get a special code to punch in that will unlock Asagi Wars for you. Prep your button mashing thumbs, dood, it’s time to aid Asagi in her quest to be the main character!

Last but not least, we’re proud to bring you some fresh info on Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel, dood! The hit title has finally landed on the PS3 and is ready to go out with a bang in the final installment in this epic series. With a jam-packed Blu-Ray disc (seriously, it’s almost a full Blu-Ray), you can expect an extremely in-depth and satisfying epic tale!!

While I won’t spoil the entire plot for you, I’ll provide a brief synopsis. Within the world of Sol Cluster, there is an imposing Tower controlled by the powerful Clustanians, who are all Reyvateils, and they are oppressing everyone else on this Tower. For some reason, they have decided to capture a young girl named Saki to further their own machinations. Their pursuit of Saki lands on a young boy named Aoto’s doorstep, and being the stud he is, he steps in to save her. Due to this heroic act, they all end up on the run from an entire army. They all soon will learn that both Saki and another special girl you encounter, Finnel, are being sought after due to their importance and power! I dare not spill any more information, as you all must enjoy the final chapter on your own, dood!

First and foremost the battle mechanic is more action-oriented versus conventional turn-based game play. What it does is actually help tie in the most important part of the battle system which is to attack corresponding to the rhythm or beat. This dynamic, much like previous Ar tonelico games, is paramount to building your meter up to unleash a super-strong attack for your Reyvateils. With a more action-based approach, it allows you more control in regards to timing your attacks to the beat, thus helping you build your Harmograph.

Lastly, a more scandalous addition to the battle mechanic is the fact that the Reyvateils now will get stronger by shedding their clothing. So in essence, by losing layers of clothing, they will become more powerful and able to do incredible amounts of damage! I suppose this is why the game may have gotten a stronger ESRB rating, so needless to say, please use discretion if you are squeamish to the shedding of clothes. Otherwise, it’s pretty great. :-)

Lastly, please check out the official Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel! website that will go live later this week on www.nisamerica.com, as within you’ll get more in-depth info on characters, more story points, and last but not least, information on the Reyvateils’ sensual powers. If you haven’t already, please sign up for our Prinny Bomb Newsletter as we will announce the site’s unveiling within it! I just wanted to thank you all for reading, and make sure to check back soon as we are working hard on getting more screenshots and the trailer ready for Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel!

I’m happy to bring a bunch of presents including the Hyperdimension Neptunia trailer! On top of that, we’re also proud to bring some screenshots of Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle for PSP!

Last time I chatted about the basic story of Gamindustri and how it relates to our four lovely goddesses and their journey to save Histoire and Gamindustri. Today, I’d like to turn my focus to some of the other unique features that throw some good ol’ nostalgia and customization into the game. The first one we see in the trailer is the incorporation of a lot of classic SEGA icons such as Alex Kidd, Shinobi, and Space Harrier. During the course of your journey through Gamindustri, you may come across various dungeon bosses who may drop small “Game Discs” as they’re called.

Upon acquisition, they will allow you to customize your battle combinations to add, for example, an Alex Kidd or Space Harrier special summon attack where you can deal some serious late 80’s/Early 90’s damage to your foe. It’s a really nostalgic feature that a lot of the older gamers will appreciate.

Next in the trailer, we come across the use of the “Emblem” and “R/W Discs”. These two features allow a little bit of customization for your character(s). “Emblem” will become available to you early on in the game and its basic premise is you can put your favorite picture or emblem on your character’s posterior. Next we have the “R/W Disc” that will allow you to create your own personal summon to do damage and show your favorite picture AT THE SAME TIME! All you will need to do both is get your favorite pic over to your PS3 and then upload it via the game’s image editor. Endless possibilities and humor will ensue without a doubt. Our QA team and I have flown plenty-a-roflcopter while using these features.

Lastly, two quick cameo characters are shown, one for GUST, and one for Nippon Ichi Software. These characters can join your party to open up alternate stories as each has their own motivation for wandering around Gamindustri. Word on the street is there may be DLC for them to become playable *wink*, but there will be more on DLC next month

Our last present to give you all this year will be a few quick screenshots of our new Phantom Brave PSP game!! Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle is a port of the Wii version Phantom Brave: We Meet Again – but this time there’s a bunch of new cameos included! Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks we will have a brand spankin’ new website for you all to view along with more screenshots.

Before I take off, I just wanted to let you all know our Holiday Comic Contest is in full swing with “No Joy to the Netherworld, Etna Claus has come!” This time around we are asking our fans to complete a comic starring Prinny and Demon Lord Etna for some awesome NIS prizes. Come check it out on the Holiday Contest Website!! On top of that, Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! is less than a month away from U.S. release on both UMD and PSN, so Preorder Now to get your limited edition Asagi Pin! We only have 500 of these limited edition pins, dood, so no dilly-dallying! Until then, party on, doods!!!

Happy Holidays!